Dreamers
Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives.
I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.
--Siegfried Sassoon, Counter-Attack and Other Poems, 1918
Erotica author, aka Elspeth Potter, on Writing from the Inside
Saturday, May 9, 2009
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Heh. We studied his works as part of War Poetry at school. Wilfred Owen, Jessie Pope (female), Arthur West and Rupert Brooke's as well. I think I liked Owen the most.
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